Seven people were killed and three others were injured in two separate incidents in a village in Kirkuk’s southern district of Daquq late on Wednesday.

A security source told KirkukNow that “unknown gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in Dara village in Daquq’s Haftaghar area, killing 6 civilians, all members of the same family.”

The source added that only a two-year-old child escaped the attack.

Haftaghar area is comprised of three villages Dara, Mansour and Ali Saray) which are predominantly-inhabited by the Turkmen community.

In a separate incident, two mortar shells, fired from an unknown location, hit a house in the same village, injuring four people, one of them (a woman) later died of her wounds at the hospital, according to sources from the Daquq general hospital.

The situation escalates

Soon after the attacks, federal police and a local anti-crime police team arrived for investigations.

Eyewitnesses told KirkukNow that skirmishes broke out in front of the hospital after federal police prevented the anti-crime team from entering the hospital for investigation.

“During the skirmishes, several fires were shot; as a result, a member of the anti-police who is a Turkmen was killed,” an eyewitness said.

Federal police pulled out

Following late Wednesday’s unrest, Turkmen residents staged protests before the federal police headquarters. Protestors blocked the Kirkuk-Baghdad highway for an hour and demanded that federal police units be pulled out of the district and also called for the trial of shooter of the anti-crime police member.

Major general Hamid Zuhairi, deputy commander of the joint operations command in Kirkuk and Kirkuk police Chief Ali Kamal who arrived in Daquq following the unrest, assured protestors that the shooter will stand trial.

It was also decided that federal police units be pulled out of checkpoints in central Daquq. The forces are replaced by local police.

Territories covered by(KirkukNow)

(KirkukNow) is an Independent electronic news website publishes stories and events taking place within or relevant to Iraq’s disputed territories with the aim of promoting coexistence in those areas and providing easy access to information